Training

The Alberta CX season swan song has been sung… And with that of course comes tears, followed by the sudden and vacuous void where you’re left with one thing, the unanswered question, ‘so… what now?’

Sure, like most people at the end of the race season, I’m tired and ready for a break of somekind, but I can’t say I’m excited about heading into the off season. While a few of my racing palz are headed for B.C. to continue racing, others are facing the upcoming Alberta winter bravely, by already waxing their skis, lacing up their skates for beer league, or pumping up their tires on their Fatbikes. But I’m feeling directionless… I don’t know what I’m going to do over the next 5 long months of dark, cold winter.

I’ve only got two races in the bag so far this year. The first was the Blizzard winter race and the second was a spring series road race. All in, I’d say I felt pretty happy with my performance in both, taking the bottom step of the podium in the Blizzard race, and managing to run with some of the big dogs for ‘most’ of the road race last weekend, before getting shot out the back of the lead group on the 4th lap. What was really interesting about this race to me though, was my power data and being able to see the sequential drops in power, lap by lap…

When I popped, my power literally dropped off a cliff on lap 4/5 – it was pretty astounding… I went from an average power of 229watts on lap 3, to an average of 196w on lap 4. Then it dropped off another cliff on lap 5, practically flat-lining like a patient suffering cardiac arrest at 172w… I was cooked! And it didn’t matter how hard I pushed, or how big of a suffer-face I made because I was done and done.

At Christmas, Ken showed up at my place with a truly horrendous beard. Naturally, I thought it was awesome, and figured I should grow an even worse one.

4 weeks later, I sent Ken a text message to find out the state of his beard, and discovered that he didn’t enjoy looking like a lunatic who’d wondered off from the nearby hospital, so he’d buckled and trimmed it. This however confirmed to me, that with some willpower, I stood chance at beating him. When I let him know my plan, he scoffed – called me a ‘copy-cat’, among other things and demanded an immediate photo. So, fueled by his displeasure, obviously I forged on. At first I was just going to take the photo right away, but being aware of the photo of him sporting his ridiculous beard and that even more ridiculous fur hat, which he posted on Facebook, I knew I needed to ponder my photo carefully – it needed to be epic.

After much chiding, I finally relented and signed up with Strava. ‘Another online social network…really? Really…?’ Yes. And if you’re like me, and a bit frayed around the edges with already trying to keep up with Facebook, Linked In, and Twitter (maybe others), then adding yet another place to log into and catch up on probably isn’t what you’re looking for. I know I wasn’t… But, here’s the thing. I ride, and if you’re reading this I assume you do as well. If you ride like I do and you’re already tracking your ride data (me via Garmin) and uploading it to an online website, like Garmin offers for free, then maybe you’ll be swayed like I was to move over to Strava.

Just like you, I’m busy. Sometimes I have to work late, sometimes I have to mow the lawn, sometimes I’ve got to look after the little lad… The list is seemingly endless. Oftentimes, this barrage of commitments limits my ability to plan and coordinate group rides – I’m not lamenting this fact, it’s just life. But when life gives you lemons, you still have to go riding… And sometimes that means riding alone.

While Strava can’t help you interact with real live people, injecting some friendly competition into your rides is the essence of what makes Strava different than many of the other fitness tracking tools out there. – Read More –

Reaching new heights, is not always a good thing… Especially when you’re talking about body weight.

Like last year, I find myself standing on the scale in January staring down at an all time high for me. Discouraging? Yes. Surprising? Not at all. I’ve been slackin’ for months and eating terribly. Well, actually, as a new parent, I shouldn’t go too hard on myself, but that doesn’t change the fact that’s I’ve been off the bike since end of Cross Season almost completely, and I haven’t been doing anything else to replace it really. Sure, I’ve been getting a token workout in every now and then, a ride here, a ski there, but given the way I’ve been eating, let’s just say, I’m losing the battle of the bulge. – Read More –

My wife and I were at a Christmas party last week, with a crowd of pretty fit folks. Everyone there was an athlete of some discipline, be it Tri, MTB, Football, what-have-you… So, of course the conversation came around to workouts, fitness, yadda, yadda, and then my buddy breaks out his laptop and starts passing it around, telling us all about this website, ‘Body Rock TV‘. Of course, at first the men in the room smile and the women groan, but like my buddy and his wife (who both do these workouts daily) say, the obvious visual appeal aside, the workouts are legit! In the wake of what I consider the P90X shock workout training strategy, Zuzana challenges Body Rockers to a new home workout each day. – Read More –

With an onslaught of great apps for the iPhone (someofwhich we’ve highlighted before), it’s tough to stay on top of all the latest technological innovation for your ride… I mean come on, it’s tough enough sorting out all the latest component grouppos ;-)

With that said, over the past few months there have been a few innovative releases that have caught my eye, so I thought I’d pull them together and show you a glimpse of what’s out there.

One thing all these apps have in common is that they’re bringing in aspects beyond the application itself – Be it friends, community or hardware. – Read More –

You’re a cyclist because you love to ride, but likely you’re also a cyclist because you like staying fit and living a healthy lifestyle. Makes sense. Cycling gets you outside. It’s great cardio, and low impact on your joints. Sounds all good, right? Well, my buddy Gord, sent me an article last week that suggested that the same healthy, low-impact activity can actually be a cause of bone loss in cyclists. Really?

Sometimes I like to consider myself I fairly hardcore guy. When the goin’ gets tough, most times I’m able to hunker down, grit my teeth and get through it. I might not get there first, I might not get there smilin’, but I’ll get there.

With that said, there are times (albeit few) when a guy just need to come to terms with the fact that it’s time to throw in the towel. A ride a few weeks ago was one of those times.

It all started innocently enough. An email went out from one of the Deadgoats suggesting a roll through some of the more picturesque roads to the south of Calgary on the cx bikes. The weather was supposed to be grand, and I had missed the last group ride so I was eager to get out. – Read More –